Hurricane Nicole made landfall on Florida’s Atlantic coast early Thursday, leading to at least two deaths, widespread power outages, the collapse of several homes and the unearthing of what may be a Native American burial ground.
The hurricane made landfall just south of Vero Beach around 3 a.m. ET on the east coast of the Florida Peninsula on North Hutchinson Island, with sustained winds estimated to be around 75 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
Nicole, which struck Florida as a Category 1 hurricane about six weeks after Category 4 Hurricane Ian, weakened into a tropical storm shortly after making landfall.
Though not as forceful as Ian, Nicole still left broad devastation in its wake, including fatalities.
Two people died after being electrocuted by a downed power line in Orange County, the sheriff’s office said Thursday afternoon.
“Multiple” coastal homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea, an unincorporated beachfront community, collapsed and “several other properties are at imminent risk,” the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said. Meanwhile, in St. Johns County, a portion of the road of the Coastal Highway appeared to be broken and covered in water.
In Martin County, Florida, Nicole churned up sand and unearthed what appeared to be bones on Chastain Beach on South Hutchinson Island, the sheriff’s office said. The site is believed to be a Native American burial ground, according to the department.
In Port Orange, Florida, the Rose Bay Dam breached Thursday, and emergency repairs are underway. Port Orange City Hall wrote on Facebook that the seawall and bank on the north end of a drainage system was “compromised” and tide from the bay was “pushing rising water in the area.” Locals were urged to evacuate with hundreds of homes at risk.
Residents also faced widespread power outages Thursday morning, with more than 303,000 customers without electricity in the state as of 1:30 p.m. according to the outage-tracking website poweroutage.us.
Nicole’s wrath is a rarity for the region as only two hurricanes have made landfall in the state in November since the start of record-keeping: Hurricane Yankee in 1935 and Hurricane Kate in 1985, according to The Associated Press.
The storm continued to weaken Thursday afternoon, and maximum winds were recorded at 45 mph, meteorologists said. The storm is expected to continue to lose strength as it churns toward the Florida panhandle.
As of Thursday afternoon, Nicole was located about 165 miles southeast of Tallahassee and was moving northwest at 15 mph, meteorologists said. The legacy of Nicole will be the devastating beach erosion it caused, especially along the state’s northeast coastline, which was hammered by Ian only weeks ago, meteorologist said.
Nicole is also forecasted to bring a dangerous storm surge along parts of the east-central coasts of Florida, as well as portions of coastal Georgia and the Florida Big Bend along the Gulf coast, the hurricane center warned.
Dangerous surf and coastal flooding will continue to impact northern areas of coastal Florida through the evening especially during high tide. Rainfall totals in the area through today are expected to hit between 3 inches and 5 inches with isolated areas receiving up to 8 inches, meteorologists said.
Nicole is causing havoc in neighboring states, too.
There is tornado threat Thursday for coastal Georgia and eastern South Carolina. A Tornado Watch is in effect until 7PM for the region.
Nicole is expected to turn sharply northward later Thursday and accelerate up the East Coast through Friday, meteorologists said.
Heavy rain is expected through the southeast and the southern Appalachians Thursday night into Friday and across the Mid-Atlantic and the northeast Friday afternoon and Friday night. Rainfall between 2 inches and 4 inches is expected in the southeast with up to 6 inches possible in the Northeast. New England is expected to see 1 to 4 inches of rain. Flooding will also be possible across the Appalachians and the east coast tomorrow, meteorologists said.
Communities still reeling from Ian are hit
Hurricane warnings had covered Florida’s coast from Boca Raton to the county line between Flagler and Volusia counties, northeast of Orlando, in advance of the storm’s landfall.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a storm briefing Thursday morning that Nicole’s strong winds are impacting regions beyond its central track.
He said the storm is bringing heavy rains to the state, which have resulted in “3 to 5 feet in storm surge” in some areas and potential flash flooding.
“You do have downed trees, you have power lines, you have some road washouts, combined winds and storm surge, we’ve seen beach erosion — especially in areas that had already seen erosion from Hurricane Ian, and these are places like Brevard, Volusia, Flagler and St. Johns counties,” DeSantis said.
He said that though the storm isn’t as strong as Ian was, he had expanded the initial state of emergency declaration for 45 counties to cover all of them. The state has 17,000 linemen staged to begin power restoration, seven search and rescue teams, high water vehicles and Department of Transportation crews ready to deploy as soon as it is safe, he said.
DeSantis had said earlier in the week that 600 National Guard members have been activated, as well.
“This is obviously not as significant a storm as Hurricane Ian was but coming on the heels of that, you’re seeing communities, particularly in the Volusia County area, where you have a lot of that erosion on the coastline, this has put some of those structures in jeopardy,” he said.
Sixty-one school districts were closed Thursday due to the storm.
Krista Dowling Goodrich, who manages 130 rental homes in Daytona Beach Shores as the director of sales and marketing at Salty Dog Vacations, said she saw the beachfront disappear ahead of the storm.
“While we were there, the whole backyard just started collapsing into the ocean. It went all the way up to the house,” she told the AP. She said the water also compromised the remaining land between a row of tall condominium buildings nearby.
Nicole heading toward Georgia by evening
As of 1 p.m. Thursday, Nicole’s center was located about 45 miles north of Tampa traveling northwest at 15 mph with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.
Nicole remains a large tropical storm with winds extending outward up to 345 miles from the center, particularly northeast. Wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph have been reported across the eastern and northern portions of the Florida Peninsula throughout the afternoon.
The storm is forecast to continue moving west across the central Florida Peninsula and will emerge over the far northeastern Gulf of Mexico in the afternoon. The center will then move across the Florida Panhandle and Georgia in the evening. It is expected to weaken as the center travels over land and weaken into a depression over Georgia in the evening.
Tropical storm warnings for several regions were discontinued Thursday, but warnings remained in effect for the Sebastian Inlet to the South Santee River in South Carolina and from the middle of Longboat Key to Indian Pass in Florida.
Officials in Volusia, Palm Beach and Flagler counties issued mandatory evacuation orders for some areas ahead of the storm.
Evacuations were ordered for two zones of Nassau County, Florida, a region near the Georgia border above Jacksonville, on Wednesday evening due to sustained tropical storm-force winds, expected through Friday morning, and dangerous marine conditions.
“Secure loose objects and be prepared for possible power outages,” the emergency notice said.
In St. Lucie County, bridges to the barrier island were set to be closed Wednesday, although people wanting to leave would be allowed, officials said. Bridges in Daytona Beach were also closed.
St. Lucie County officials urged people on the barrier island and in some low-lying areas to evacuate, and for everyone to take the storm seriously.
On Wednesday afternoon, boat ramps were underwater and there was already flooding as the storm approached, Deputy County Administrator Mark Satterlee said.
“We haven’t even had any rain yet. So we’re really concerned about the amount of flooding that we’re going to see in the eastern part of the county,” he said at a news conference Wednesday.
In Volusia County Thursday, all bridges to the beach side except for the North and South Causeways in New Smyrna Beach were ordered to be closed and a curfew was declared for incorporated and unincorporated areas east of the Intracoastal Waterway though Friday morning. In the county, nearly 35,000 homes and businesses were without power and officials urged residents to shelter in place due to standing water, downed trees and debris.
Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump’s club and home, is in one of the evacuation zones, built about a quarter-mile inland from the ocean. The main buildings sit on a small rise about 15 feet above sea level and the property has survived numerous stronger hurricanes since it was built nearly a century ago, the AP reported.
Rain and coastal flooding had already been felt in the state Wednesday, before the storm made landfall.
Video posted on social media by the sheriff’s office in Martin County showed waves buffeting a causeway Wednesday night.
A weather station in Sebastian Inlet, which is on a barrier island south of Melbourne, recorded 48-mph winds and a gust of 66 mph shortly before midnight Wednesday, it said.
Farther up the East Coast, New York City activated its flash flood emergency plan Thursday, anticipating aftermath impact from Nicole. Agencies across the city were deployed to inspect and clean catch basins at “hundreds of flood prone locations,” the New York City Department of Environmental Protection said.
Nicole made landfall Wednesday on Grand Bahama Island, less than 100 miles east of Florida. Extensive flooding, downed trees and power and water outages were reported in the archipelago’s northwest region.
Hurricane Ian made landfall on the opposite side of Florida, near Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast, on Sept. 28, and traveled across the state to the Atlantic. Ian was one of the most powerful hurricanes to strike the state in recorded history.